Glock 42 Review

The Glock 42 is one of the latest offerings by the Austrian firearms manufacturer. It's no secret that Glock had not been taken seriously when it had initially introduced the plastic framed guns due to reliability concerns, but all that changed when shooters first held these awesome pieces of engineering in hand. The Glock 42 shares a similar "Cinderella" story, but we'll get to that later.

For those who don't know, Glock has been manufacturing 380 caliber models for a long time, they just weren't available to American gun enthusiasts due to import restrictions. There's the Glock 25 and Glock 28, which were only exported to countries with restrictions on civilian firearms.

On paper, the 380 Glock 42 is one of the least impressive guns. In fact, when it was first announced, the Glock 42 had suffered a huge backlash due to the competing Ruger LCP, which was much more advanced on paper. The fact of the matter is, the Ruger LCP and the G42, even though in the same class, are entirely different guns, but we'll get to that later.

The first impressions that the G42 manages to make can be summed up in two words; miniature gun. Even though the G42 is supposed to have larger dimensions than the G26, it is much narrower than the latter, which gives off the impression that the gun is intended for use by midgets. Another change is the lighter top of the G42, which is a welcomed modification considering that the Glock 26 was deemed as too top-heavy.

All these changes give off a firmer grip as compared to the G26, and the thinner dimensions actually felt better in the hands.

As mentioned before, the G42 seems timid on paper, but once we took it to the range, the 380 Glock 42 impressed us very much. For starters, the thinner dimensions gave off a much more natural feel when holding the gun in hand. The 7 rounder (inclusive of one in the chamber) fired continuous 100 rounds without as much as a jam, making it one of the smoothest guns we've operated.

Aside from that, the low recoil force was the best we had seen on a 380. Accuracy is good for up to 30 yards, but even an inexperienced shooter could fire accurate headshots from a distance of at least 15 yards.

The operation just seemed so smooth that it brought to mind the Mac versus PC debate. While the latter seems like a beast on paper compared to Macs, they simply do not perform as smoothly as Macs.

Similarly, the Glock 380 just feels natural when shooting. In fact, the only complain I could think of was not enough magazines in my hand, as the fun just starts at the 6th round.

Honestly, the Glock 42 has surprised us all in terms of practical usage. What seemed like a doomed pistol has managed to win our hearts on the range. Even though the Glock may not be the best choice for a pocket handgun, it manages to outshine the competition in many other ways.